SUM ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS - dBASE VERSUS C

The Fuel Manufacturing Facility (FMF) at Argonne National Laboratories-West (ANL-W) in Idaho Falls accomplishes its internal special nuclear material accounting with a PC-based DYnamic Material Accounting (PC/DYMAC) system developed as a collaboration between FMF and Los Alamos National Laboratory staff members. This system comprises four computers communicating via floppy disks containing transfer information. The accounting software was written in dBASE' and compiled under Clipper.' The decision was made to network the computers and to speed the accounting process. Moreover, it was decided to extend the collaboration to Sandia National Laboratory staff and to incorporate their recently developed CAMUS and WATCH systems to automate data input and to provide a measure of material control. The current version of the code is being translated into the C language. The implications of such a change will be discussed.